Assessment of Groundnut and Sorghum Intercropping

Abstract

Intercropping approach is to maximizing the use of limited farm lands as well as attaining food security to the subsistence farmers. A field experiment was conducted during two consecutive rainy seasons (2013/14 and 2014/2015) at Sheikan Locality, North Kordofan State, Sudan to investigate the effects of intercropping groundnut with two varieties of sorghum on land use efficiency. The experiment consisted of eleven treatments: three sole crop of groundnut, a local sorghum variety (Zinari) and an improved sorghum variety (Butana) and eight spatial arrangements of 1:1, 1:2, 2:1 and 2:2 rows of groundnut with each of the local or improved sorghum varieties. Treatments were arranged in a randomized complete block design with four replications. Land equivalent ratio (LER), competitive indices and economic analysis were used to evaluate the productivity. The results revealed that the intercropping affected most of the characteristics studied. The results revealed that all competitive ratios (CRs) were less than 1 in all intercropping treatments in both seasons indicating that, all intercropping patterns were advantageous over sole cropping The arrangement of GSV1 2:2 (two groundnut rows alternating with two rows of sorghum var. Butana rows) was the best pattern in terms of land use efficiency, with LERs of 1.46 and highest cash returns (6345.3 SDG). The study concluded that, the arrangement of GSV1 2:2 is the best combination for maximum use of land.